Spirit India

Scientists have developed computational models that could improve the effectiveness of drugs based on antibodies. By calculating which molecular changes would cause the antibodies to bind more tightly to their targets, the models already have helped create a new version of an anticancer drug.

After computationally analyzing hundreds of potential antibody modifications, the researchers—Bruce Tidor, K. Dane Wittrup, and graduate student Shaun Lippow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—selected a small number to test experimentally.

They found that some changes improved antibody binding by more than 100-fold! The approach could speed the development of new drugs and enhance antibodies used as diagnostics and as research tools.